Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-01-26
OVATION TO LEE.
THE GENEROUS RECEPTION AND VEL.
COME GIVEN OUR GOVERNOR
IN ST. PAUL.
Grand Banquet To1dered Him by the Mag
nolia and 'Possums club-His Speech
Received with Enthusiasm.
Special telegram to the Dispatch.l

lNpechi NlesfhIn 10 tne DiePaarh.I
ST. PAUL, MINI, January 25.--A no.
table banquet was rendered Governor
Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, who is Wis
iting here, last night by the Magnolia
and Possums Club organization, com
posed of southern men. There were
about twenty guests present, com
prising some of the most distinguished
men in the North; among them were Cen
eral Johnson, United Statesarmy; Gene
raj Ruger, United States army General
Sibley, Judge Flandreau, Ignatius
Donnelly, Senator-elect Davis, Gov
ernor NJ. c. Gill, ex-governor Ramsay,
President j. J. Hill, and National Com
mitteeman p II. Kelly.
A GRAND AFFAIR.
The affair was the most magnificent
ever given in St Paul, and the pressure
to secure invitations was tremendous.
About 2G0 covers were laid. Governor
Lee received a tremendous ovation
when he was introduced by General
johnson, who presided rs toastmaster.
THROUGH THE SMOKE OF BATTLE.
+. Y. Smalley, in connection with
Judge 1 Flandreau, delivered the address
of welc6ine and paid glowing tribute
to the Lee family, especially Governor
Lee, whom he said he liked all the
better because he Saw him last through
the smoke of the battlefield.
GOVERNOR LEE SPEAKS.
General Lee then spoke in response
to the toast "The New South" He
was greeted with cheer after cheer.
Meetings of this sort, he said, did &
great deal of good. If We had known
each other better before the war the
great civil conflict would not have oc-
cured. 1t was because of the different
construction put upon the Federal Con
stitution, the different views of the doc
trine that State feeling aggrieyed
might withdraw from the Union, that
the contest occurred. It was because
the South could not honestly accept the
view of Webster and Sumner that the
conflict occurred.
RETURN or PEACE.
But now all the turmoil of war was
over: the crack of the muskctry has
ceased. and as the eloquent senator
from Georgia expressed it, "the South
was back again in the house of its "a
Tiers Virginia now, however was
again bqck into the Union of d,r first
tore. and she desires to do her share to
help make this country what Our fore
fathers intended it to be-a blessing 10
humanity.
THE Hrw SOUTH.
The old South had passed into the
new. with It's different conditions, and
the new South OF to-day is the equal in
patriotic feryor with any State in the
Union. Though he bore upon his per
son scars obtained in fighting for what
he believed to be the right of a soye-
reign State, he could bear testimony to
the entire satisfaction of himself and
his compatriots with the present state
of things-the development of the great
destiny of the American republic.
ENTHUSIASTIC APPLAUSE.
In behalf of the old soldiers of Min
nesotathree timesthree cheers were then
given for General Lee, and the Wild
est enthusiasm ensued. Speeches elo-
quent and interesting followed from
Senator Dawes, Ignatius Donnelly, and
others, and it was an early hour in the
morning when tie banquet broke up.
Governor Lee is in receipt of the
most marked attention, and will remain
in the city until Friday.